Everyone remembers plucky little Meowth! He was most notably given a Brooklyn accent and a sharp tongue in the English dub of Pokémon. Meowth functions as🐷 both the brains and the backbone Team Rocket's operations. Cunning, funny, and often making humorous mistakes, Meowth has warmed hearts for generations. Sure, you grew up watching Pokémon, but do you really know Meowth as well as you think you do? After all, there is a little known darker side♛ to one of the franchise's most dynamic Pokémon.

There’🦩s much more to Meowth than just talking big and walking tall. This is a Pokémon with a lot of heart, and a pretty heavy past that he just cannot seem to escape from. In “Go West Young Meowth,” the true extent of Meowth’s tragic past is revealed. From unrequited love, to living like an outcast, to finally finding a place where he belongs, Meowth’s tale is a long one. Considering the first thing that he remembers is being alone, the journey of self-discovery he takes is made all the more necessary.

What really fascinates me about Meowth, ♌in particular, is how impressive of a Pokémon he is. He has many traits that set him aside from others of his species, not to mention his unique ability to actually speak and read a human language. Meowth's character growth in the series is nothing short of remarkable. In addition, his 🅘multi-faceted personality captures the viewer's attention from the very first episode that he makes his debut.

15 Meowth Was Ab🦂andoned From The Beginning

Meowth's tale of woe began when he was merely a kitten. In the episode, "Go West, Young Meowth," we see him s💫mall and mewling, hungry and alone. It is apparent from the very beginning his upbringing was not happy, nor was it setting him up for a bright future. Meowth's youth was spent merely trying to survive in a wor𒁏ld that seemed to treat him as if he were a nuisance.

His initial abandonment also shaped a lot of his future behaviors. These include learning to steal from a young age, being comfortable roaming the streets, and never really feeling like there was a definite place where he belonged. Th🅷at is, until h♊e joined Team Rocket and found a place concocting evil Pokémon-napping schemes with Jessie and James.

14 Meowth Forced Himself𒆙 To Walk On Two Legs

Love sure hurts, doesn't it? In order to impress a beautiful female Meowth, named Meowzie, Meowth tries to become more human after seeing how much she adores her rich trai♐ner. Meowzie thinks of Meowth as a "street Meowth" and snubs her nose at him and refuses to give him her affection. So, Meowth strives to become more human, which means teaching himself to walk on two legs instead of four and eventually also teaching himself how to talk.

This is a fairly difficult and painful process for him, and it takes him quite a while to master this new mode of being. Eventually, he is able to become bipedal, and sadly Meowzie snubs him 🦩once more, calling him a "freak Meowth" now that he doesn't walk like the rest of his species does. His attempt at being more "human" to impress Meowzie is a huge failure, and ends up leaving him even more lost and alone than before.

13 🍎 M💫eowth Is The Only Non-Legendary Pokémon That Can Talk

What is especially impressive about Meowth is that he can communicate without needing to use telepathy. Aside from his unique case, only Legendary Pokémon can "talk." However, they can only communicate using telepathy, but Meowth is the real deal. He can speak, read, and even translate human language into Pokémonlanguage, and vice versa. Meowth often acts as the liaison⭕ between human and Pokémon in conversations.

Meowth eavesdropped on a class from a hole in the ceiling and taught himself to speak by mastering complicated tongue twisters. He kept at it, and eventually, his meows turned into full-fledged sentences. After Meowth had mastereꩵd human speech, he moved on to reading and obtained a picture book. From there, he learned his first word, which would prove to chart a course for his new destiny. Th🔴at word was none other than "rocket."

12 The First Word Meowth Understood Was "Rocket" ⭕

In order to appease the capricious Meowzie, Meowth underwent a c𝓡omplete transformation in an attempt to become "more human." This included teaching himself to talk, and once he did that, he moved on to teaching himself to read. He got himself a picture book, and his eyes came to rest on a particular page. The letter was "R," and the word was "Rocket."

Little did he know, this singular word would determine the course of the rest of his life. Once he had his heart broken by Meowzie, he decided to carve out a different path for himself. Meowth wanted to join Team Rocket because of this𒀰 word that was so important to him. He seemed to find a place for a while, serving Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket, before being passed off to Rocket grunts Jessie and James.

11 Meowth💫 and Pikachu, Under Different Circumstances, Would Be Friends

Meowth has a very interesting relationship with Pikachu. Aside from the fact that he, Jessie, and James are fixated on trying to steal him, Meowth has some tender moments with him. He has even observed that if the circumstances were different, he and Pikachu would likely be very good friends. They are also often seen teaming 𓄧up together in multiple instances even though they are allied on completely different sides.

Meowth🐲's strong desire to steal Pikachu comes from his eagerness to please Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, and present Pikachu to him in order to gain his favor. Their relationship is very complex, it is not a tender friendship, nor is it an intense rivalry. It falls somewhere in between on the spectrum of these two extremes. Nothing in Meowth's𒆙 life has ever been easy or clear-cut, and his relationship with Pikachu is just another example of why happiness seems to elude him.

10 Meowth Wan🦩ts To Be "Top Cat" But Never Rose To The Occasion

Meowth is the undisputed "brains" of the Team Rocket operation. Howeve🌸r, Jessie and James rarely give him the credit that he desires. Although he views himself as the boss of the trio, he ends up a laughing stock more often than not when his plans backfire. However, Meowth is a very convincing liar and even hoodwinks Ash and his friends into thinking that they are on the same side.

One thing that he will never be able to give up is his undying loyalty to Jessie and James, and also to Team Rocket as a whole. Meowth's strong admiration for their bos💛s, Giovanni, ওhas him constantly striving to be "Top Cat" and replace the Persian that currently occupies that position in Giovanni's service. Meowth once served Giovanni, but due to his own bumbling nature, he was quickly replaced by the aforementioned Persian, who he still harbors a strong dislike for. It is unsure whether or not Meowth was ever Giovanni's "Top Cat," but he did get transferred to Jessie and James's team after he got himself electrocuted.

9 𒁏 Meowth Has a Very Big Heart and Hurts Easily

Although Meowth acts tough, he's really a big soft🌃ie. He fell almost immediately in love with Meowzie when he first got to Tinseltown. He even goes so far as to protect her when the gang of Meowth that he was once a part of turns against them. He loves her even after she becomes a stray, the very same thing she initially spurned him for.

Meowth also has a soft spot for Misty's Togepi when it's still an egg. He desires to raise Togepi for himself, and is reluctant to let it go, but eventually wishes it happiness with its new owner, Misty. Meowth also is apt to befriend Pokémon ♒who are also outcasts like he is. He finds kindred spirits in those who don't belong. His love goes hand in hand with his loyalty, still having feelings for her even though Meowzie spurns him for the Persian who leads the gang he was initially part of.

8 ♏ 𝓀 Meowth Often Ponders His Existence

In the episode "Go West, Young Meowth," Meowth is characterized as a very private Pokémon. Jessie questions why he has never shared his story with them before, and he replies with, "There are things you don’t know about me…things I like to keep private." Which 🅠suggests that Meowth spends a lot of time thinking about things he does not share with anyone, even the other members of his trio.

At the end of the episode, he is seen looking up at the moon and away from the rest of the team. He wonders what is next for him, especially after a second failed attempt at love with Meowzie (who 🎀rejected him even after he protected her). Meowth's assertion about his own privacy reflects on his hesitation to trust anyone, even his own team members.

7 𓃲 Meowth Fell Victim To Hollywood (Or Tinseltown)

The concept♑ of Hollywood (or Tinseltown, as it's r🎀eferred to in the series) represents a new start, a chance to chase one's dreams and even transform oneself. For Meowth, that is exactly what he did. He changed how he walked, learned to talk, and tried to be more human. He went against his own nature as a Pokémon in order to appease someone who would never love him. He was dubbed, by Meowzie, "a walking, talking, freak," which further alienated him from other Meowth, and also from the humans that he tried so desperately to be like.

When Meowth returns, "Tinseltown" is in shambles, and Meowzie has been abandoned by her owner, who could n𝓀ot afford to keep her anymore. Hollywood failed both Meowth and Meowzie, not allowing them to live out their respective dreams. Meowth wanted to be a movie star, and Meowzie wanted to live a life of luxury. Both end up much changed, but Meowth was able to work past that and build a life of his own. However, Hollywood scared him because it let him down so dramatically.

6 Meowth Does Not Bꩵelong Among His Own Species 🌟

Meowth's bizarre mix of traits, being able to walk on two legs, read, and speak a human language, and inability to do things a normal Pokémon would do —like battle— creates a serious issue. Meowth has only won six battles that he has ever participated in alone. He avoids battling when he c💮an. He exhausted all of his energy learning to walk and talk, which left him unable to hone his battle abilities.

Most of the instances where he must fight he proves to be extremely lackluster and not much of a worthy opponent.𝔍 However, there are very rare occasions when he is forced to battle and actually proves to be a fairly strong adversary. He also has yet to evolve, which probably stems from the dislike of his next evolution, which would be Persian. He is jealous of Giovanni's Persian, continually vying for the cov🍌eted spot of "Top Cat."